The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By: Stieg Larsson

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.

He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from 40 years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.

But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

©2005, 2008 Norstedts Agency, Reg Keeland (P)2009 WF Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"I doubt you will read a better book this year." (Val McDermid)

"Intelligent, complex, with a gripping plot and deeply intriguing characters. The author's early death is a great loss." (Philip Pullman)

"What a cracking novel! I haven't read such a stunning thriller debut for years. Brilliantly written and totally gripping." (Minette Walters)

Good start to the mystery

Over all I did enjoy this 1st part of the novel.
It contains a great deal of character building and back story line before it starts to get into the nitty gritty of the plot, and i did find that to be somewhat tedious and confusing. I would recommend taking the time to listen to this part again just so that you understand the characters properly before moving onto part 2. It was necessary in order to know how the characters tick, who they really were and how they would interact with all the other characters in the following 2 parts of the audio book.
I enjoyed the parts of the book that particularly pertained to the story line, ie: all the interesting facts and info about the dead Harriet Vanger, and did find myself wanting to know more.
This is not a book I would have regularly chosen to read, but hearing it was much more exciting in the long run.
If you like a good mystery then this is a good place to start.

Awful!!

I don't know what the fuss was all about either. I found it painful and frustratingly boring. It's all business in the front. Even after "the girl" swoops in. I found it only had moments where I was partially curious about the story. I never finished it, and probably won't.
I found some of the language doesn't translate well from swedish to english. It sounded somewhat awkward in spots. I couldn't keep all the family straight all of the time, there was just too many of them. By the time I found out who dunnit, I didn't care. I just wanted it to be over. I will NOT get any more of these. I can't imagine they are any better.
I liked the narrator though. He was perfect at getting the voices to sound different and appropriate.

Good Read!

This novel is EXTREMELY slow to start, but if you can push through the beginning it is WELL WORTH THE READ!

After the boring beginning this is a THRILLING and ADDICTIVE detective-like story with greatly endearing characters.

A total bore

this book has been hyped to the max and I found it totally uninteresting. It goes on for hours about nothing worthy of listening to. It comes in three download sections, I listened to each one for about an hour, and found it unbelievably BORING BORING BORING. For me, not worth the money OR the time.

Expected much more. Series closed.

The narrator was great. I was surprised by the shalowness of the story. Any gap in the logic or smoothness is filled with one more photo discovered or with godlike
hacking abilities.

It was Ok

This book was not all that it was media hyped up to be. It was irritating that the protagonists were repeatedly referred to by their surnames. The plot was incredulous at times and some of the complex unravelling hard to follow. Not for me, I won't be getting the rest in the series. Although the narration was good.

enjoyed

Very long winded. Only just managed to hang in long enough to get into the story which was also very padded.

A great leading lady, unbelievable plot

This book is very entertaining and the leading lady just great. I know the book has a lot of devote fans and I have to say I am not one of them. For me, as the plot unveils it becomes just too unbelievable and I couldn't take it seriously anymore.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Absolutely magnificent - brilliant read!

Too Violent and Graphic

I couldn't even finish it. I hear it has a great plot and gets quicker towards the end (it's slow in the beginning) but I couldn't get that far with all the sexually explict assaults etc.